Wedding Update

It's getting soooo close to wedding time and everything is going amazing!! I have so not kept up with this blog and I'm quite bummed with myself. I will need in the future (6 mths from now) to have my memory jogged. Now with not hardly any wedding blogs, I probably will forget most of the process. I hate that, so with my crazy insomnia I thought I'd try to talk about what's went on in the last 75 days. We've had 2 general wedding showers, 1 lingerie shower, 1 weekend bachelorette party and this coming weekend we're going to the Austin area to shop for the wedding. It's been some serious milestones and I seriously hate to sound cheesy but every event has been absolutely wonderful for Ms. Hannah and our family. To see sooo many people shower Hannah & Austin with love, it's been quite overwhelming at times!! We are down to bridal pictures with Hannah this coming week and really that's it. 3 weeks from this coming Saturday is the BIG DAY! I just can't believe that it's almost wedding time.

Hannah's 1st shower was here at our home. It was a tea party & pearls theme. It was given by her sisters and Kim (a bridesmaid). Of course I couldn't help but help. It was my family and Ray's family - which is a bunch of women. It was beautiful and just a wonderful time with some of the most important women in Hannah's life. My sister Toni was over the top helpful (she should be called St. Toni). Here is a few pictures from the day.

The precious bride! The most chill, easygoing, grateful BRIDE - ever!! SOOO blessed to plan a wedding with this lady.

Me and my girl!

The sisters! They have all been such a blessing to Hannah & so helpful to me through all of this.

My Momma/Hannah's Grandma

Seriously probably the best maid-of-honor, EVER! This girl has done anything & everything we've needed her to do. She could possibly be the maid-of-honor for the other 2 sisters, especially since she's done such a great job. Just such a servant!!

The big group of us.

Some family

Aunt Toni - if something happens to me before the wedding this is the ONLY person that knows every detail of the wedding day! She's my angel on earth & for sure Jesus' hands & feet to me. SUCH a blessing. I could NEVER express or repay her for all she's done.

Present time!

Only SOME of the presents from this shower!

The setup!

The next shower was with friends. Hannah has been welcomed into Austin's home church since they began dating & she's now in leadership with Austin in the youth group. A couple of her girlfriends, her future sister Holly & Olivia put together a shower at Shady Grove. It was a cookies & milk theme. It was very nice as well and Hannah was again, overwhelmed by everyone's love. Here are some pics from that shower.

Beautiful girl!!

Sisters!

Hannah's new sister Holly in 23 days and her precious niece Haddy.

Friends

Presents

Games

Setup

Then came the Bachelorette Party Weekend!! Hannah, her sisters and Megan went down to our timeshare in Tyler on Thursday - then on Friday came 7 other girls for the rest of the weekend. They had a WONDERFUL, special time and made memories that will last a lifetime!! Meshali was 1 of her special friends that was there and she's a wonderful photographer (she'll be 1 of the photographers at the wedding) - but she took pics for ME of the weekend!! I love her!!! So here are some from Hannah's weekend with her girls.

Shirts I decided to make at the last minute.

LOVE this of the girls.

Such precious sisters.

Their signature pose.

The maid of honor and 4 of the 7 bridesmaids. AND the bride.

All the girls that went. (all but Becca, she's taking the pic)

They went on a photo scavenger hunt. It was quite fun I heard. This is several pics of things that they had to get a photo of. The 1st team back after they completed the list of 25 - WON. The brides team WON!

Becca and Shali (the GREAT photographer/Sarah's roommate/my bonus kid!! Love them BOTH!
A little volleyball.

Ummm, thought I taught them not to jump on beds but...I actually let them always jump on the bed - YIKES! This is cute.

Next was the lingerie shower for Hannah's close girlfriends. This was given by Angela Miller & Erin Taylor. They use to be the "Ross Sister" (& always will be in my eyes) but have both been married in the last couple of years. They have known Hannah since she was probably 8. They blessed Hannah sooo much with a shower that they put so much time and love into. Hannah being VERY sentimental, it really meant a lot to her that they took so much time to have everything just so perfect and SOOO Hannah.

Here are some pics from that night.

The hostesses - Erin and Angela

Sweet Friends.

Games

All these goodies were made by Lylette's Bakery, they were SOOOO yummy - here is a link to her blog -- http://lylettesbakery.blogspot.com

Then, this weekend will be THE LAST of the events scheduled before the wedding weekend. Myself, all 4 girls, and a couple of extras are going shopping to the awesome outlet malls in San Marcos. We are gonna take a quick getaway and have a good time. Hopefully a few of us will find what we are wearing to the wedding!!

In between all of the above we have had work days at my sister's home, where the wedding is going to be. We've laid new grass. We've shopped till we've dropped. We've logged 100's of hrs. on the internet planning, researching, shopping. We've made decorations. Created & sent out invitations. I've already made the appointments for the girls to have massages/toes/nails done the day before. 1 of Austin's brothers just got in from Europe. Everything is pointing to the wedding being SOOOOO close!!! We've worked hard but enjoyed every single solitary second of the planning. There isn't a ton to do until the week before and it's quite weird. It's a feeling like I'm forgetting a million things!! I know ALL the important things will be remembered and the rest will be no big deal.

The only thing that would have made all the above over the top, wonderful, perfect, stupendous - would have been to have Hannah's future Momma-in-love and her 2 new sisters here. Every step of the way they have been missed sooo bad by Hannah and the rest of us. Since they live in Europe it's been a big bummer to not have them here. I personally would have wanted Jerri with me every step of the way. She's been through this with 2 daughters and a son - and I can use ALL the advice I can get!! I've tried to keep them up to date on everything but it's hard & even though we've missed them here it's been WAY harder for them! I know the Lord gives them grace and they're just so happy for Hannah and Austin but it still stinks to miss out on happy times with your kids. And Hannah is for sure already their child! So that would have made everything just perfect! We are all quite excited for them to get here and enjoy the last of the festivities with us all. It will be a wonderful time as we join our 2 families together forever. I look so forward to sharing my grandkids with the Benjamin family. I couldn't ask for a more precious Poppy & Gigi to love on them and impart amazing wisdom to them. I know they feel like we do - the more grandkids the better!! What a blessed family Hannah and Austin will have. I'm so excited for Austin that all his family will be here and surrounding him with love for 1 of the biggest days of his life. So hurry!!!

So that's the end of the "catch up blog" for the last 75 days. I can almost bet the farm I won't be blogging again till after the big day. So until after November 6th - when I will have MANY, MANY pictures to share - Farewell!!